HTC Surround Impressions

Obviously this new sliding slab of sexiness is running the Windows Phone 7 operating system. I won’t bore you with too many details on that because I’m sure after today 7 will be your least favorite number to hear or see in printed text if you can in fact be over stimulated by a number. Without further ado…

The HTC Surround is a “delightful” 3.8″ WVGA SLCD display with the other requisite hardware requirements. The Surrounds primary differentiator is its inclusion of a premium speaker set-up that (hopefully doesn’t suck) slides from the side of the device to also reveal a kick stand. This is going to be an ideal set up for mobile media but should also greatly increase the quality and usability of speakerphone in office or desk style environments so the sound can be better directed towards the user. Regardless of its slightly smaller screen size I believe the 3.8-4.0″ screen size will come to dominate the market. The 4.3″ is often described as too large by many (particularly one handed) users. Touching all four corners of an HD2 with one thumb requires awkward shuffling. The additional screen size also reduces screen DPI at the same resolution resulting in a sharper screen at smaller sizes as well. What also separates this and many other US handsets is its onboard storage of 16gbs, giving you twice as much room as the Europeans. Let us know what you think below.

@Stefy – The 16gb is from the official press release so that is about as confirmed as it gets.
@MartiM – As far as the speaker goes, I hang out with friends a lot. Sometimes we sit around and drink beer and don’t do shit. Speaker works great in such a situation. Also, just cleaning my house. I like listening to music while cleaning and this fascilitates me shaking my dust busting booty all over my house where ever the dirt should take me. Plus speaker PHONE would be the shit on a good quality and slightly more directional speaker.

@MattA – lol Well, I have a fairly small house with minimal walls, so that’s what I have a stereo for. :) (And it’s a house, not an apartment/condo, so I don’t have to worry about shared walls.) Yeah, if I had shared walls, that would be a problem.
I have a small child. I don’t see my friends anymore. :( I guess I just don’t see a use for me. That’s why MS is going with lots of different designs. Which I appreciate. Unlike some other fruitcake companies. :D

Would be hard to part with a slide-out keyboard, but I do like HTC hardware (I think LG sucks monkey balls). Not sure when/how I would use the speaker but I don’t mind it being there. Definitely a contender.

Cool! Well I guess its back in the running. Oh, and that was my screwup on the talk time (240 minutes = 3 hrs – duh). There are times when I do wish there were 80 minutes in an hour but when looking for a phone you have to stick to the facts.

The Surround is silly and gimmicky. What *SHOULD* have been imported was the Trophy–basically the same form factor but without the stupid slide-out speakers. I’d buy one today if it weren’t for the speakers.

The Samsung is plastic and cheap feeling….the iPhone 4 feels like diamonds and gold in comparison. It’s just “ok”. The LG has a small screen and I’m not into landscape-oriented fold out keyboards. And of course, the Surround is just stupid.

So here I am–wanting to upgrade my WM6.5 HTC Excalibur but hating all three AT&T form factors. *sigh*. Do I wait? Do I finally go ahead and pull the trigger on iPhone 4? Do I try an import a Trophy that doesn’t support 850MHz 3G operation?